No.6 Discussion Board

I haven't worn my braces over a cosplay yet, only under my cosplay with a cloak, but I've heard other disabled cosplayers express the same frustration that their cosplays tend to be ignored. I might just experiment one day and wear the same cosplay two different days of a con, but one day with my mobility aids and the other without them and take note of the difference.

And I think there's always going to be some kind of hierarchy in anything, as stupid as it is. A lot of people want to feel better than others and hate the people who are liked more. It's all really ridiculous though, considering we're all nerds in costumes... It really does make all the difference to have the right friends for sure. I was feeling super insecure about all my cosplays until I met two of my dear cosplay friends (who I met through No.6, they cosplayed Nezumi and Shion) and they have been so encouraging and positive. Since then, I've been much more confident in sharing my photos and I haven't cared so much about being perfect. Now cosplay to me is about having fun, celebrating achievements, and learning from mistakes. It's much more fun that way.

I should add about the disability thing, my braces aren't generally an embarrassment for me. They either don't show up (they're black and I almost always wear black pants) or if they do, it silently lets people know that I have trouble walking. For someone as young as me, it's nice to have something speak for me about my limitations because otherwise people just think I'm lazy. The cane is something else entirely since it's considered an "old person" thing, but I've had several months to mentally prep myself for when I might need one. A lot of people in the disabled community have trouble taking that step into mobility aids just because of that sort of stigma. I think maybe I'd be a lot more anxious about it all if I was trying to date people or something, but I don't particularly care about that stuff right now so that isn't an issue for me. Still, that's an issue for a lot of people in my position unfortunately.